Description
Recombinant human proteins TAK1 (1-303) and TAB1 (437-end), linked by a small peptide (DFGGGGG), were expressed by baculovirus in Sf9 insect cells using an N-terminal GST tag. The TAK1 gene accession number is, NM_003188; TAB1 is NM_006116.
TAK1 is a serine/threonine protein kinase that mediates signaling by TGFbeta and morphogenetic protein (BMP)(1). In response to IL-1, TAK1 forms a kinase complex with TAB1 and this complex is required for the activation of nuclear factor kappa B (NfkappaB). TAK1 can also activate MAPK8/JNK and MAP2K4/MKK4 and thus play a role in the cell response to environmental stress. Tak1 is essential for thymocyte development and activation and deletion of TAK1 prevents maturation of single-positive thymocytes displaying CD4 or CD8 (2). Thymocytes lacking TAK1 fail to activate NfkappaB and JNK and are prone to apoptosis upon stimulation